Grindhouse Split

Bad news for Europeans: after the poor opening weekend (a mere $12 million!) for the Tarantino/Rodriguez double bill movie, Grindhouse, Harvey Weinstein has confirmed to Deadline Hollywood Daily that the project will be split into two separate feature films for the European market. In fact, it appears likely that the movies will be split and aired separately in the USA after the lower than expected business.

That's what Harvey says The Weinstein Co. is already intending to do with the film's release in Europe: split it into two separate pics, Tarantino's Death Proof and Rodriguez's Planet Terror. "Quentin's movie goes out first in competition at Cannes. He'll do an extensive 4 to 5 month tour. And the trailer will be all Quentin's," Weinstein told me about his European plans. "Then we'll release Robert's a couple of months later. By splitting it up, we're going to do a hell of a lot better internationally than we did here." Weinstein noted that, even in Grindhouse's video deal as well as its TV deal with Starz Entertainment Group, it's been sold as two separate movies.